Chapter two; The secret ingredient

Harry Potter had been put into stressful situations many times, more than she could possibly count, and definitely more prominent than a simple teenage crisis such as this.

Though, she didn’t tend to care about what most teenage girls did in the first place, things like makeup, hideous hairstyles or fawning after the male population of the school for wizardry and witchcraft-which was admittedly a good bunch of them, or so she had heard- had never been part of her adolescent life.

She didn’t fuss over her appearances, didn’t stress over her clothes and didn’t mind to pass on the makeup; she barely had any time for silly nail polishing or learning manicure spells or gauging her eyes out with the eye liner Ginny had hastily passed onto her when she realized Harry didn’t have one. Harry was simple, plain… and she liked it that way.

Well apparently the said male population didn’t have a taste for simple, they rather preferred Lavender Brown’s cute doll like face, layered with tons of makeup and her exposed shirt rather than Harry sitting right next to her, dressed in her worn out hand me down clothes that once belonged to her obese cousin-who was also a boy-or her golden rimmed glasses and the mop like nest of unruly hair at the top of her head.

Such materialistic baby men never held her attention and she never devoted a single thought to them or dating one of those boys… she never even cared much for dating, as she was either too busy fighting off a dragon or protecting their school from a giant snake with poisonous fangs.

But now she should care. Because first, Valentine was peeking right around the corner and second, ever since last week she had been having the most irrational and the most /inappropriate/ thoughts about a particular boy with pale complexion and a pointy chin.

She didn’t even know where it came from, but every time she set eyes on the Slytherin her mouth went dry, a tingle went through her heart and down to her tummy and butterflies threw several parties in her churning stomach. Every time Harry glances at Draco Malfoy, her /supposed/ arch nemesis, she feels the blood rush to her face and form the most embarrassing shade of blush known to human kind.

As this was the case last week, when she had embarrassingly realized just how hot her enemy looked as he was spewing insults at her. Needless to say… she lost that fight.

She, then hits herself for not noticing the gorgeous boy sooner; in these last recent years, Malfoy had been adapting well to puberty, the boy’s unblemished face, and his lean build made girls drool all over when he passed by, his cocky grin made their hearts throb and his sneer alone had made a few Hufflepuffs drop dead in the hallways…

Fawning after Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin prince was what most girls in her year did. But she wasn’t most girls!

Harry and Draco hated each other in every way possible, they got into more fights than any other students, and proceeded to insult each other at every turn, once Harry had been so pissed at Malfoy that she punched him right in the face, breaking the thwart’s nose and basking in the satisfying glow of getting to get away with it.

Her relationship with Malfoy was the only one that was defined, had been built upon years of hate and resentment… and now… she was the one who found herself succumbing to her irrational teenage fever that thrived on her puberty hormones.

Or it could just be the Valentine air getting to her. She couldn’t care any less; she had a problem that she needed to take care of. Preferably before the dreaded day came and ruined her hopes and dreams…

Unfortunately after Lockheart’s little stunt with the cupids when she was twelve and the twin’s utter shamelessness; the tradition had been held up and on Valentine’s day every unlucky student had been forced to confront her or his crush one way or another… and Harry was not taking any chances.

She still remembered that disastrous poem Ginny had wrote for her on her first year and couldn’t bear the humiliation if something similar happened to her.
As if on cue the boy steered from the stairs and headed down the hallway, immediately drawing the girl’s attention from her red head friend and to the bastard strutting down the hall.

Harry bit down on her lips to control the rush of blood that surged into her face and planted a scowl on her face to intensify her hatred.
“Is it hard Potter? Managing to look both like a dork and a four eyed toad at the same time?” the boy sneered as he passed and Harry pulled a face.

“I’ll try to make an effort for you.” She spat back, clenching her hands. Malfoy paused, a smirk on his face as he spun on the heel of his expensive polished shoes and strode back to her, Harry stood her ground, quickly throwing a look at Ron to back off.

“What is that scar head? Did I hear your forming a full sentence all by yourself?” Harry flushed, resisting the urge to grab the boy by the tie and slam her head into his perfect face.

“You tell me Malfoy, was it hard for your dear daddy to teach you how?” as the insult flew out of her mouth, Harry realized her mistake, the affect only heated up the tension between them.

“At least I have one Potter, what do you have to make up for?” with the last sneer, Draco shouldered past her and on his way, not noticing Harry’s evil glare that followed his every move. Oh she knew exactly how to handle this year’s Valentine.

Xx

“Draco Malfoy is an absolute git!” she spits as she slams the door to her mentor’s office, alerting the woman of her student’s return.

“What have you done again Harriet?” the woman asked, looking as composed as ever as she single handedly managed to crush the herbal roots and stir her bubbling potion without taking her eyes off her student.

“Huh! What have I done?! That… that absolute pain in the butt is exactly what’s wrong with the world! Boys like him don’t get to have the looks, be rich and /be/ an utter arse to everyone around them!” she flopped in her teacher’s stool and eyed Serine’s shimmering black hair with envy.

Why couldn’t she have straight hair like her? What was wrong with the world?

The potion mistress smirked, adding her crushed roots to the blue potion.

“So that’s what your ‘totally emergency, it’s a matter of life and death’ was all about, I thought you were looking a place to bury the body.” She teased, stirring the potion for the last time before putting a static spell on her cauldron.

“Serine! Be serious for a second! Deduce points from him or… or suspend him, better yet, expel him!”

“On what grounds?”

“Being a prat.” She said without missing a beat.

“Unfortunately, I can’t neither deduce points nor suspend a student, just because you hate them. You shouldn’t really concern yourself with your school rival to the point of obsession though… the question is... Why are you so angry at him for being what he always had been?”

Harry feigned innocence. “I’m always infuriated with him! This isn’t new!”

“Isn’t it? I’ve never seen you so frustrated with the boy, is there anything you want to talk about? Maybe concerning a certain grey eyed teen?”
“I do not have a crush on him!” she most definitely had a crush on him.

Serine pinched the tip of her nose, shaking her head in mock disappointment. “You just admitted to having a crush on the boy. Honestly Harry I taught you better.”

Harry scoffed, defiantly crossing her arms over her dainty chest. “I do not harbor feelings for Draco sodding Malfoy! He’s my arch nemesis! I want the boy dead.”

As if realizing what she had just said, she nodded in confirmation. “Yes I definitely want him dead because I hate him so much.”

Serine looked unconvinced, arching an elegant brow.

“Correction; you want him dead because Valentine is coming up and you have a problem.” She deadpanned, moving around the stool to get to her desk, as gracefully as ever. Harry sometimes wished that she had some of her grace.

“Wa…Wait how did you figure that out?” she stammered nervously, flushing in shame.

Serine waved her off with a dismissive hand and settled on her chair with a sigh. “As I’ve always said; your face is like an open book, a five year old could have figured it out.”

“Whatever.” the messy haired teen grumbled.

Serine smirked, leaning her chin on the back of her intertwined hands. “So you like Draco Malfoy, hmm, I admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”

Harry-despite her gloomy mood- was once again awed at her teacher, someone she had always secretly thought of as a mother ever since they got on good terms; she was tall, taller than average with a thing and almost delicate build, but Harry knew that there was nothing delicate about the woman, her shimmering black hair barely brushed her shoulders and her nose reminded Harry of those French royalty she had read in classic novels.

Serine was truly beautiful, unlike her, who looked like a graceless goose that had ran away from a farm and had been attacked by wolves in the way.
“How many times do I have to tell you Serine? I’m just concerned that I’m being subjected to a horrible prank or under a love potion or something…this is quite unusual.”
“Or you just find the boy attractive. At least your body does.” Serine said, snorting, and Harry gawked in disbelief.

“Oh my god Serine…I’m not kidding! Try a diagnosis spell, or…or interrogate him! There must be something you can do…You’re a potion mistress!”
The potion mistress ignored her, smiling slyly as she drew out Harry’s crumbled note from earlier and handed it to her. “So you sent me a ‘totally emergency, it’s a matter of life or death’ note, just because you think you’re drugged?”

“Yes.” Harry couldn’t help but feel like a lunatic as she said this.

She glanced at her with something akin to sympathy. “I know that I might not be the first person you would go to for boy problems Harriet… but I think confronting Draco would be more advisable in this situation, while considering the alternate circumstances might be too humiliating for you.”

“So you’re not going to help me.”

Her face hardened but her tone remained soft and as motherly as the stern woman could manage. “Talk to him Harriet, and if I were you, I would do it before things get out of hand.”

But Harriet did not intend to do that, in fact she wanted nothing to do with the blonde haired boy if she could help it, this stupid crush was just that, a stupid, passing crush that probably wouldn’t last for more than a week or two. Plenty of time before Valentine came up.

In the meantime, she just had to figure out if she was somehow drugged or under Draco’s influence; every day passed and Harry found herself secretly drooling after the boy along with everyone else, every class passed with her rejoicing in the boy’s angelic (she later gagged-more like devilish-) face or sometimes trying to imagine him without a sneer on his face.

She didn’t talk to Serine for about a whole week, before finding the courage or rather be pathetic enough to go crying by her office, her face looking blotched and disgusting; she had been in another fight with the Slytherin and as much as she loathed to admit it, Malfoy’s remarks had really hurt her, and her crush had almost nothing to do with it, Valentine was right around the corner and her fight with Draco that day, warned her of what laid ahead if the supposed day finally came.

“Harry, you have to tell him, do it privately or write him a note…I’m sure deep down, the boy has some feelings for you too.” Serine doesn’t coddle her, and Harry loves that about her. She says everything in a matter of fact tone and her plans were always flawlessly designed.

“I cannot! What if he laughs at me like today?! What if he tells everyone?! Or worse… what if you’re right?!” she bawled, wiping the snot dangling from her chin with her sleeve. Serine handed her a handkerchief, looking utterly disgusted.

“Write him a letter or write him a poem, Harry, I know that it must be hard, but I also imagine that the embarrassment would be harder to bear if it happens in front of everyone.”

“Why does it have to be this way? Can’t I ditch Valentine or go back in time and made sure I never fell in love?”

“You know it doesn’t work like that Harry, the cupids deliver the message whether you were there or not, unfortunately I couldn’t convince Albus to put a stop to it…you’re on your own.”

“Thanks Serine, that’s really helpful!” she spewed out sarcastically and the woman rolled her eyes.

“Valentine is only two days away child, I don’t want you to regret this day for the rest of your life, I want you to look back and regret the things you have done, instead of wondering what would have happened if you hadn’t done it.”

“Stop being cryptic, I can’t tell if you’re being mean if you’re cryptic.” Serine patted her shoulder once and then helped her stand up.

“Go and write that letter Harry, maybe you can even send him some chocolate?”

Harry glanced at her mentor incredulously. “Send him /chocolate/? Who does he thing he is for me to send him /chocolate/?”

“Forget it.” Serine told her, looking not only disappointed but regretful.

Two days passed in a flash, it happened so fast that Harriet was somehow lost in the middle, still trying to find a solution, only to find herself waking up to a pink fuzzy ball over her eyes.

She gasped and scrambled out of her rumpled bed, eyeing the decorations around their dorms in disbelief. It couldn’t be! She thought frantically, today couldn’t be the day!

Still in a state of undress, the sixteen year old teen, eyed the empty but hideously decorated dorms and ran out of the room in a flurry of horror and dismay etched on her face.

Students turned and stared at her with wide eyes at every turn, some couples stopped mid kissing and glanced at her wild appearances. Harry ignored it all and ran for the Great hall, if she could just get to the stupid cupid fast enough…

She had no such luck though as she panted and made her way through the gigantic double doors with a heave.

There stood Draco Malfoy, eyes uncharacteristically wide in horror and his jaw almost hitting a floor as a cute chubby cupid was floating in front of him…reading off a golden scroll. Every single person was watching them, the cupid, Draco Malfoy and her, in her pink pajamas.

The cupid smiled sweetly and Harry’s stomach recoiled, as she could only stand and watch in horror as the scene unfolded.

“….. Roses are red…” her face flushed.

“Violets are blue…” here it comes…she thought, though everyone seemed to have figured it out by now.

“Potter never imagined

To fall in love with you!”

Every eye turned to her at the end and Harry held their gaze only for a moment before turning and walking away numbly. She expected Draco to start sneering and jeering at her any moment now before a similar cupid appeared before her.

“Roses are red…” it couldn’t be. She thought is disbelief.

“Violets are blue!” no. way.

“Draco Malfoy fancies

The green eyed doe.”

Oh no.